A teenager at the center of a sex scandal involving a former Delano Union School District employee asked a judge to lift a protective order Wednesday.

Officials confirming with 23ABC that the teen, who was 16 years old at the time she had a relationship with Bobby Scott Perigo, asked a judge Wednesday during a preliminary hearing to lift the protective order because she loves him.

The judge denied her request. 

A preliminary hearing for Perigo was pushed back to Jan. 25 in Shafter.